LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

PRESENTED BY 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



IBisIjop ]BM\'% #FPmon. 



JS^E 




nulns|ip of Wjr 

($ospfI. 






THE 

Trusteeship of the Gospel. 

AN 

ORDINATION SERMON 

BY THE 

Rt. Rev. Gregory Thurston Bedell, D. D. 

Assistant Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
in the Diocese of Ohio, 

PREACHED 

In All Saints' Church, Portsmouth, Ohio, at an Ordi- 
nation of four Presbyters and three Deacons, 
held by the Bishop of the Diocese, 
Sunday, June 6th, 1869. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 
CINCINNATI: 

ROBERT CLARKE & CO. 
1869. 



v \^ 



To the 

Rt. Rev. G. T. Bedell, D. D. 

Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Ohio, 

Rt. Rev. and Dear Sir: 

Having listened with great interest 
and profit to your sermon on the Christian Ministry, 
and believing its publication would be timely and use- 
ful, we unite in requesting a copy for publication. 

Portsmouth^ O., June 6, 1869. 
(Signed by) 



lev. S. A. Bronson, 


D. D. 


Rev 


. Eras t us Burr, D. D 


c< Lewis Burton, 


D. D. 


(C 


John Swan, 


<c J. B. Brit ton, 




cc 


T. B. Fairchild, 


" J.F. Ohl, 




cc 


"Thos. S. Bacon, 


iC E. Hubbell, 




cc 


D. L. Howard, 


" John Scott, 




cc 


W. C. French, 


cc C.H. Toung, 




cc 


W. Henry Watts, 


<c C. P. Maples, 




cc 


J. W. C. Duerr, 


cc Wyllys Hall, . 




cc 


R. K. Nash, 


<c A. F. Blake, 




cc 


Henry L. Badger, 


cc George Bos ley, 




cc 


R. B. Balcom, 


" J. G. Jones, 




cc 


J. C T. Franklin, 


cc Wilfrid H. Dean, 


cc 


W. J. Petrie. 



D. Higgins, Esq. 

NORWALK. 

Wm. W. Boiler, 

PORTSMOUTH. 

L. C. Demarin, 

PORTSMOUTH. 

J. F. Towell, 

PORTSMOUTH. 

Wm. V. Peck, 

PORTSMOUTH. 

S. N. Sanford, 

CLEVELAND. 

John Kiloh, 

WAKEMAN. 

P. Barron, 

RAVENNA. 

E. E. Fillmore, 

ZANESVILLE. 

Jas. W. Wilson, 

FREMONT. 



J. N. Whiting, 

COLUMBUS. 

Wm. Procter, 

CINCINNATI. 

S. R. Ross, 

PORTSMOUTH. 

Sam 1 1 Reed, 

PORTSMOUTH. 

J. N. Burr, M. D. 

MT. VERNON. 

Geo. C. T'ownsend, 
Wm. Lucas, 

GAMBIER. 

A. H. Moss, 

SANDUSKY. 

W. G. Mitchell, 

COLUMBUS. 

H. R. Tracy, 

PORTSMOUTH, 



My Dear Bishop : 

I earnestly hope you will accede to the request made 
to you by the clergy who heard your most appropriate 
sermon, at Portsmouth, on the Sunday after the Con- 
vention, that you will furnish it for publication. They 
do not estimate it too highly. 

Yours, affectionately, 

CHAS. P. McILVAINE. 
Right Rev. G. T. Bedell, D. D. 



ORDINATION SERMON 



The Trusteeship of the Gospel. 

"As we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the 
gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, 
which trieth our hearts" — I Thess. ii: 4. 

THE apostle has seized upon a significant repre- 
sentation of ministerial functions. He speaks 
of himself as trustee. He is a trustee for God to men; 
acting in God's behalf for the benefit of His redeemed 
children. 

The apostle stands before us, conscious of the sol- 
emnity of his trust ; conscious, also, of the integrity 
of his purpose. He realizes the privilege of minister- 
ing the gospel. He recognizes his responsibility on 
either side; to God the giver, and to man the recipient. 
He sees clearly the relations of this trust. With 
refreshing directness, he states the principles on which 
it is to be administered. And so there lie, enfolded in 
this scripture, the first elements of the ministerial func- 
tion. Let us unwrap the text, and, by Divine blessing, 
discover the aptness of its teaching. We have : 



The Trusteeship of the Gospel. 



I. The nature of the trust. 
II. The appointment and relations of the trustee. 

III. The principles which guide a faithful discharge 
of the trusteeship. 

i. The nature of the trust. cc As we were allowed 
of God to be put in trust of the gospel, so we speak." 
There is no mistaking the simplicity with which the 
apostle presents this point. The matter in trust is the 
gospel — the glorious gospel of the blessed God ! That 
which makes a burdened sinner leap for joy; that which 
tunes again a broken heart; that which satisfies a peni- 
tent believer's soul, giving songs for sighing, hope for 
fear, and changes the restlessness of unforgiven sin into 
the perpetual peace of reconciliation with God, and of 
sense of adoption into heavenly sonship. There is 
only one saying, "That faithful saying and worthy of 
all acceptation;" there is only one truth, in the universe 
of all true things, which can thus bear "glad tidings" to 
a soul at every stage of spiritual experience; one truth 
which is life-giving at all times and to all who embrace 
it. That truth is, "Christ Jesus came into the world 
to save sinners." That this is the gospel, witness, that 
John, the forerunner, announced it in the terms, 
"Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins 
of the world." The Saviour himself gave the key note 
of it in those memorable words, "God so loved the 
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that who- 
soever believeth in him should not perish, but have 



The Trusteeship of the Gospel. y 

eternal life." When apostles became capable of read- 
ing this truth clearly, by the light which streamed on 
it from the cross, they put it in the form, £C He hath 
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we 
might be made the righteousness of God in him." 

All of these are harmonies upon that one tone, 
"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;" 
that one old tone, which sounds out of the depths of 
eternity past, when we hear of " the Lamb slain from 
the foundation of the world;" which angels strung their 
melody upon, when sweeter strains, than ever again 
ravished human ear, broke in on the simple piping of 
the shepherd's reeds, with, " I bring you glad tidings 
of great joy, for unto you is born a Saviour;" that one 
old tone, which, in an eternity to come, shall waken the 
echoes of the heavenly temple, when angels shall listen 
in silent ravishment whilst saints are singing, "Unto 
Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His 
own blood;" "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to 
receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, 
and honor, and glory, and blessing." That theme of 
earth and heaven, of sinner repenting and saint rejoicing, 
of eternity past and eternity to come, the tenor, sub- 
stance, sum of revelation ; that theme, "Christ Jesus 
came into the world to save sinners" — is the gospel. 
And the gospel forms this Trust. 

But you will notice, the gospel is not salvation. It 
is merely the announcement of it. The gospel is not 



8 The Trusteeship of the Gospel. 

that which saves, but simply a message concerning that 
which saves. It is a saying, a declaration. And there- 
fore, as ministers of the gospel, we are put in trust with 
nothing but news: good news, "glad tidings;" but only 
a message of news concerning that which God has done 
for our salvation. 

Consequently, some questions much vexed in the 
church are hereby put at rest. For example: It is a 
grievous error to say, as some have done, that part of 
the function of a minister of Christ — chief part- — is to 
offer a sacrifice for the sins of the people, either in the 
mass, or in the eucharist. A sacrifice forms no part of 
the matter of our trust. The gospel is not a sacrifice, 
is not an atonement, is not Christ crucified; but is sim- 
ply tidings of a sacrifice — a sacrifice that has been offered 
— of an atonement finished — of a Christ who has been 
crucified. Let the point be very distinctly before your 
minds. It may solve more than one future doubt. 
The ministry is not entrusted, in any respect, with that 
which saves ; but only with a message concerning it. 
We are not trustees of salvation, but trustees of the 
gospel. 

In like manner, they err, who affirm that the grace of 
God has been committed to the ministry, to be dis- 
pensed by them, either with or without conditions, by 
sacraments, ordinances, absolutions, or in any other 
way. The gospel is a message concerning the grace of 
God, but it is not the grace. And consequently, as 



The Trusteeship of the Gospel. 



our trust covers only the gospel, it extends simply to 
the declaration of God's grace in Christ Jesus. We 
can not touch the grace itself, either to give or with- 
hold. God, the Holy Spirit, mercifully holds the 
bestowal of grace within his own power. Keep this 
truth in mind. It will help you to understand the 
meaning and value of sacraments and absolutions. 
Sacraments are methods of delivering our message. 
They address the mind and heart through the eye, 
whilst our words reach the ear. They confirm the 
message. But we have no control over the grace which 
they represent. We announce God's merciful purpose. 
If grace reaches the heart through our message, God be 
praised ! But we have no power to stamp grace upon 
an infant's heart by signing its forehead with the cross, 
nor to place grace in the soul of an adult by laying 
consecrated bread upon his tongue, nor to force grace 
upon his acceptance through the power of w T ords, how- 
ever skillfully arranged. We are not trustees of grace, 
but only of the gospel of grace. 

And so they err, who suppose that it is a minister's 
duty to reconcile all apparent difficulties in scripture, 
or to harmonize all apparently discordant doctrines. 
Those ministers greatly err who attempt to make their 
preaching more definite than God's word, who attempt 
to explain what God has purposely left unexplained, or 
who attempt to cover the mysteries of scripture, by 
doctrines of philosophical speculation and necessities of 

2 



io The Trusteeship of the Gospel. 

human systems. The matter of our trust is the mes- 
sage as revealed and stated in the Bible. The Bible is 
our text-book. Whatever we find there, it is our duty 
to preach; for the limits of the message are only, "Thus 
saith the Lord." We are not to select between truths, 
except as to the time of presenting them. We are to 
proclaim the message just as we find it — thus, "Be- 
lieve in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
saved." "Being justified by faith, we have peace with 
God through our Lord Jesus Christ." " Faith with- 
out works is dead, being alone." "Work out your 
own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God 
which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his 
good pleasure." "He that believeth and is baptized, 
shall be saved: he that believeth not shall be damned." 
We are to hide nothing which belongs to the gospel, 
God's grace, man's inability. God's sovereignty, man's 
freewill. God's infinite mercy, man's exposure to the 
endless misery of everlasting banishment from God's 
presence. We may show, as we can, that these truths 
are all reconcilable in the gospel. But we are not to 
hide any, because we fear that men will pervert or mis- 
interpret. 

The trust, then, is simply a message from God to 
men; a message concerning a salvation which has been 
completed by Christ Jesus. But that message embraces 
every thing necessary for a sinner to know in order to 
salvation. It is not one truth ; but a central truth, around 



The Trusteeship of the Gospel. 1 1 

which all truths revolve. The message concerns man's 
fallen condition, his absolute ruin of nature by sin, his 
actual transgression and exposure to eternal condemna- 
tion. It is full of the love of God; the eternal purpose 
of the triune Jehovah to make this earth the theatre of 
the wonders of redemption; the everlasting love, which 
gave His only begotten Son; the responsive love, which, 
in the Person of that Son, took this poor human nature 
into union with His own Divinity, and so suffered, and 
died, and rose, and ascended, and reigns, and inter- 
cedes, and saves ; the completing love, which, in the 
Person of the Holy Ghost, dwells here on earth, repre- 
senting Christ, administering salvation, pleading with 
the impenitent, giving more grace to the humble, im- 
parting faith, strengthening the believer, enabling every 
follower of Jesus to grow into His likeness, using ser- 
mons, sacraments, ordinances, providences, every means, 
to purify and sanctify Christ's people, and create a 
people for Christ, who shall be presented at last as one 
church, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. 
This message covers the law of God, with its sanctions. 
It covers the rules of personal obedience, as well as the 
tidings of Christ's justifying obedience. It covers the 
announcement of a terrible retribution to those who 
choose to neglect the great salvation. It opens the 
gates of Paradise to all who love the Lord, and abide 
in him by living faith. 

The trust is large enough to call forth every power 



12 The Trusteeship of the Gospel. 

of the human minister — although, negatively, it is not 
salvation ; and, positively, it is only news and a message. 

2d. The appointment and relations of the trustee. 
"Allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel," 
said the '['apostle. It is evident that so divine a trust, 
can be ministered only on divine appointment. God 
commits his message of reconciliation, not to men who 
send themselves to preach it, but to men whom He calls. 
The apostle has employed a remarkably strong expres- 
sion in the text. The word translated "allowed," means, 
allowed after thorough examination, and sifting b^th of 
character and credentials. It is the term used by the 
Greeks to signify an examination for a magistracy, and 
its successful termination in the acceptance of the can- 
didate. 

In this case, the examination is made by the Almighty, 
heart-searching God! In presence of that scrutiny, 
our human tests of fitness become very insignificant: 
important to us, inasmuch as they guard the church ; 
important to the church, inasmuch as they certify the 
qualities of those who minister. But the effectual scru- 
tiny is made by the Lord himself. It is carried on 
silently, in the secret chambers of the heart of one of 
whom the Lord is fitting for his ministry. Long years 
go by ; each crowded with temptation and trial, with 
tests of character and searchings of principle. There 
are struggles with sin, struggles with the fascinations of 
the world, struggles with indisposition toward sacrifices 



The Trusteeship of the Gospel. 13 

and self-denials. There are graces to be cultivated. 
There are providences to be endured. There is the 
science of heavenly things to be mastered. But, all the 
while, there is a growing conviction in this soul that 
God is calling it to the ministry. There is a deepen- 
ing satisfaction in contemplating the approaching mis- 
sion. There is a strengthening purpose to give life, 
and talents, and energy, to this work for God. It in- 
creases in attractiveness, as we draw nearer to it. At 
last, with all humility, with consciousness of insuffi- 
ciency in one's self, yet with irrepressible certainty that 
we are doing God's will, it shapes itself into the "Woe 
is me if I. preach not the gospel." And so the divine 
examination has its result. God has called that one. 
He has been judged worthy of God, to be cc put in 
trust with the gospel." 

But how shall this judgment of God, thus impressed 
upon individual consciousness, become certified to the 
world to which he is to minister ? His own impression 
can be evidence only to himself. He must also have 
some visible commission. The power of bestowing 
such commission must be committed to the church 
itself, unless, indeed, we were to expect that God would 
work a miracle in each particular case of sending out a 
minister, certifying thereby his ministerial authority. 
The Bishops, by the help of the Presbytery, therefore, 
bestow an official certificate of a divine trusteeship. 
They may err, for no human judgment is infallible; but 



14 The Trusteeship of the Gospel. 

they are not likely to err, if, in the first place, they 
look for evidences of the divine call, and send forth, 
with official sanction, only those men, in whose hearts 
the divine mission is working imperatively to compel 
them to preach the gospel. 

The moment such a man receives the commission 
from those whom God has appointed in His church to 
bestow it, he becomes, in all respects, a trustee for 
God. He has the inward call. He has the outward 
testimony to intellectual fitness and religious character. 
He has official authority. In all respects, thenceforth, 
he is to be regarded by the people as a trustee of the 
gospel. And into his own soul should sink an impres- 
sion of the holiness, the nobleness, the dignity, the 
preciousness, the responsibility, and the glorious privi- 
leges of this office. 

The duties of this trusteeship vary with degrees of 
ministry; but the nature of the trust is the same within 
all degrees. It is to declare 'God's message of salva- 
tion. Responsibility is higher in the higher office of 
the presbyter, because, then, being permitted to enter 
upon pastoral care, he comes into immediate contact 
with individual souls of his flock. But a deacon's 
responsibility lies in the same line. A deacon's duty 
is to deliver the message of salvation by prayers, by 
baptisms, by aiding a pastor's labors, and especially by 
that primitive, and precious ministry to the poor and 
suffering, which is peculiarly his own. They thus 



The Trusteeship of the Gospel. 1 5 

represent Christ's gospel to the eye, by symbols, or by 
deeds of loving charity; and as they administer the 
charity of Christ's people, they press home upon the 
heart the loving grace of Christ himself, in hours when 
the heart is most tender through suffering ; pressing 
Christ's love then by private counsels and prayers of 
brotherly sympathy. 

The relations of this trusteeship of the gospel are, 
directly, on one side, to God who appoints the trustee, 
and on the other to the souls to whom God sends him. 
Cc Allowed of God to be put in trust." He is a trustee, 
acting in behalf of the Author of salvation. What 
humility should he feel ! What lowliness of mind, 
what self-distrust, what reliance upon the promises, 
what leaning upon God ! Surely there can be no place 
for pride, vain-glory, assumption of dignity and author- 
ity, arrogance, self-sufficiency, within the bounds of this 
idea — that a sinner, saved by grace, is made trustee of 
the gospel, for saving other sinners. On the other 
hand, he is entrusted with messages of God's mercy for 
God's children. He is to "provide for, feed," clothe, 
educate the Saviour's household. He is to see that 
none be led astray of the devil or the world. He is to 
recover those who have been taken captive of sin. He 
is to comfort the afflicted, to bring back the wanderer, 
to lead penitent souls to the cross, to warn, and rebuke, 
and chasten those who are obstinate in sin. What ten- 
derness of spirit is demanded, what discretion in deal- 



1 6 The Trusteeship of the Gospel. 

ing, what discrimination in judgment, what fidelity to 
God, and truth, and the souls of his people ! All the 
susceptibilities of the human heart are called into action, 
whilst the divinely-appointed ambassador for Christ, 
remembering first his responsibility to God, adminis- 
ters the message so as not to break the bruised reed, and 
yet not to deceive with hopes of peace when an unhum- 
bled sinner has no right to peace ; to persuade men, 
whilst not hiding the terrors of the law ; to mingle his 
sense of common infirmities with a sense of official 
responsibility; to be the man and the brother, whilst 
administering the trust for God. This relation toward 
the flock of Christ is intensely human. It is difficult 
and delicate; but charged with the choicest human sat- 
isfactions, whenever fidelity on one side is met with 
confidence on the other, and mutual love consecrates 
the bond between the trustee of God, and the souls for 
whom he ministers. 

3. We could not reach our third point, in this de- 
velopment of the text, without exhibiting, in some 
degree, the method and principles which are to guide 
the execution of this trust. But, not to resume points 
over which we have passed, I direct your attention to a 
peculiarity in the mode of discharging this trusteeship, 
which necessarily follows from the nature of the trust. 

Since the trust is a saying, we can discharge it only 
by preaching. For this saying of God is to be pro- 
posed for human belief. In no way can the heart lay 



The Trusteeship of the Gospel. 17 

hold of a promise, except by faith. We can not see, or 
touch, a promise. You can not reach it by signs or 
symbols. We must deal with it only by believing or by 
disbelieving. There is no mystery in the declaration, 
that "we are justified by faith only." It is a necessity 
of the case. Pardon of sin, reconciliation with God, 
eternal life, are the substance of a promise. All that we 
can enjoy of them, for the present, is the promise. 
Consequently, the only possible mode of enjoying the 
blessing of Christ's religion, is by believing his word of 
mercy ; believing his promise. 

A minister of Christ stands, then, in a position of 
tremendous responsibility, for he holds the avenue by 
which the gospel approaches a soul. Faith cometh by 
hearing, and hearing by the proclamation of the word. 
How weighty, then, how earnest, how urgent, will his 
words be! He ought to ply every art to frame lan- 
guage which will most surely win access to the soul. 
Sympathy will open the widest door. Appeals sink 
deepest when they flow out from the heart of a min- 
ister, who has himself evidently experienced what he 
teaches, and whose emotions are kindled with the hope 
of drawing others to a Saviour, whose love he has found 
most precious. Faith responds to faith. A burdened 
sinner is drawn to a loving Saviour, by the certainty 
that he who is speaking for Christ, has become familiar 
with the path that leads to the cross. And a child of 
God puts his hand, most confidingly, within the hand 
3 



1 8 The Trusteeship of the Gospel. 

of that teacher whose own experience of religion has 
evidently been both true and satisfying. 

We have thus reached the principles upon which 
this trust — this preaching of the gospel — is to be 
discharged. The minister must have perfect hon- 
esty, absolute integrity, entire security, fearlessness 
in respect to men, conscientiousness before God. 
"So we speak/' said the apostle, cc not as fearing 
men, but God, which trieth our hearts." A constant 
recollection of our two-fold relation, will enable us to 
measure the proportions of this truth. We speak in 
behalf of God, in discharging a trust which he has given 
us for our fellow-men. Our sole responsibility is to 
Him, and to Him in all particulars, for the truth of 
our message, the earnestness with which we press it, 
the motives which underlie our ministration, and the 
manner in which we discharge it. To Him we shall 
answer. Before Him we must account for every soul 
within the bounds of our pastoral care. Well may we 
tremble, if the blood of any soul shall rest upon our 
skirts* Glorious will be the crown, which his own 
hand shall bestow, if, in that day we can present to God 
any souls saved through our trusteeship. But fear of 
men, we should have none. Their frown, or their 
smiles, should not vary our message a semi-tone, from 
its simplicity and truth. We are trustees of the gospel 
for their benefit. Called of God, taught of God, com- 
missioned of God, judged worthy by Him to be put in 



The Trusteeship of the Gospel. 



this trust, our fidelity to him, to it, and to them, are 
supposed to be beyond the reach of mere worldly mo- 
tives, can not be touched by ambition, can not be 
silenced by the displeasure of men who dislike God's 
truths. There is a wholesome regard for rightly formed 
human opinion, which a minister should cherish. His 
conscientious fearlessness should not be suffered to 
become independence of men's opinions. A man of 
God may wander entirely out of the sphere of his 
influence, by separating himself from the sympathies 
of the social circle in which he moves. And the 
opinions of wise and good men around him may often 
keep him from straying, as they will always strengthen 
and uphold his necessary denunciations of sin, and his 
fearless proclamations of truth. But when public opin- 
ion and God's truth stand opposite, the minister of 
Christ knows only one obligation. He is put in trust 
of the gospel, and that gospel he must speak fully and 
fearlessly, though ignorant men sneer, and wicked men 
deride, and although chains and prison or the stake 
await his utterance. 

There is another view of it. We are exercising this 
trust for the kindest, and gentlest, and most gracious 
of masters. Our considerate Savior, who has called us 
to the work, understands whereof we are made. He 
expects of us no more than we can do. He asks of us 
no more than he will give strength to execute. He 
knows that the vessel is earthen ; that it can not bear 



20 The Trusteeship of the Gospel. 

all trials, nor endure all shocks. He is watching. He 
is with us. With a simple, trusting patience we labor 
on, committing humbly and confidently to Him to fix 
the place of our ministry, to surround it with such cir- 
cumstances as will best forward its purpose, to sustain 
us in its faithful discharge, and to secure its success. 

There is one other thought. We need not be solic- 
itous about results. We labor for Christ. We preach 
for his glory. Our desire is to be the means of saving 
souls. But beyond that, our first, highest, most press- 
ing object is to glorify Christ. We gain our point by 
being faithful to him. Ours is labor; results are His. 
But precious labor it is ; labor that ever brings its own 
reward, whilst we are feeling the benediction of that 
loving Christ, and whilst every work of our hands tes- 
tifies, cc Lord, thou knowest all things ; thou knowest 
that I love Thee." 



The Trusteeship of the Gospel. 21 



ADDRESS TO THE CANDIDATES. 

My Brethren — who are now to be ordained ; 

Approaching this trust, I would have you feel not 
only its solemnity and responsibilities, but its privi- 
leges, its preciousness, the inward satisfactions and 
delights, which more than compensate for all its bur- 
dens. 

I speak to you all : for the exigencies of the work 
will call at once upon the deacons to enter on that labor 
which belongs appropriately to the higher office ; and 
you, dear brethren, who have already been pastors of 
the flock, have experienced that blessedness of the pas- 
toral office to which I now refer. 

You are to be put in trust with the gospel. In the 
most intimate of all relations, in the intercommunion 
of sympathizing souls, you are to take of the things of 
Christ, and show them unto those who shall be waiting 
to receive from your lips the consolations which cluster 
round the cross. O ! the joy when you see the first 
beaming of the sun of righteousness upon the darkness 
of a soul which has been as if in midnight. When into 
the chaos of a deep sense of sin and ruin, and of fear 



22 The Trusteeship of the Gospel. 

and anticipated wrath, there leaps, by the- word of your 
message, a first thought that there is mercy in God, 
through the blood-shedding of his dear Son ! When 
around that central truth of infinite love, the elements 
begin to shape themselves into an orderly and beautiful 
new creation, and all that is glad and excellent in godly 
living begins to spring into vigorous being to adorn that 
new-born soul ! What joy it is to point to stable hopes, 
when worldly disasters and earth-born troubles are shak- 
ing a soul ! When the devil brings his enginery of temp- 
tation to bear upon a soul, and swarms of doubts rise, 
and spiritual fears disturb, O then ! to show the rock, 
and to help that poor distressed spirit to find there a 
foundation that stands sure ! When affliction draws a 
cloud over the heart, and faith, sorely tried by sorrows, 
can not easily trace the loving countenance, because of 
the deep shadow of the hand that holds the rod, what joy 
it is to get that soul away to Calvary, and by the light 
that is always flashing from the cross, to show that a 
reconciled Father never is far off from a soul whom he 
chastens in love. And when the clouds deepen, at sun- 
set, over the river that must be passed, O ! what joy it 
is to speak of the Lamb that sitteth on the throne — 
"The Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the 
world" — "whose presence sheds eternal day on those 
prepared to meet him ;" and, as you speak, to see the 
eye of faith kindle even in death, the clouds become all 
radiant, the mists steal away from the river, and a 



The Trusteeship of the Gospel. 23 

loving Lord, all glorious in His redeeming might, 
stands waiting on the further bank ! The soul sees 
Him, and hastens to be gone. You almost seem to see 
Him yourself. And in the moment of farewell, there 
come across, the words of the gracious welcome: "Well 
done, good and faithful servant !" and you know that 
the Lord means it for yourself, as well as for the 
redeemed one, whom you guided surely past the cross, 
and safely into heaven. 

There is no joy on earth to be compared to that of 
a faithful pastor, who knows cc Christ crucified," and 
how to use that truth for the comfort and support of 
His people. 

And then ; this trusteeship brings yourself so near to 
Christ and to the Holy Spirit ! A trustee is always 
in most intimate communion with those for whom he 
exercises his trust. As for all believers, so for you 
especially, there is access to the Lord whose message 
you minister; and to that Holy Ghost who permits, 
authorizes, and strengthens you to imitate his office, 
and work with Him, whilst you take of the things of 
Christ and show them unto men. Of all our privileges 
this is chief: nearness of access, intimacy of fellowship. 
Use it, dear brethren ! Use it freely. Live within the 
precious influences of Jesus' presence. Drink deeply 
into the spirit of His love. Realize the grace and 
power of the Holy Ghost. Place all your dependence 
there. That is the unction you need. A heart full of 



24 The Trusteeship of the Gospel. 

devotion to Christ, whom you feel has bought you with 
His blood, and words taught by the spirit and followed 
by His power. These will render the exercise of your 
trusteeship an ever present joy. 

May the God of all grace fill you with that joy, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord ! 



